The atmosphere at CHS, Rarity concluded as she walked down the hallway, had seen better days. The hallways of the school was still filled with teenagers buzzing around lockers, but where just a few days ago those teenagers where smiling and laughing, now quite a few were arguing. And those who weren't were not smiling the same way anymore.
Rarity didn't have to ask what they were smiling about. The smartphones in their hands were plenty proof of exactly what the source of their entertainment was. The few glances in her direction, followed by snickers merely topped it off. Either a new post by Anon-a-Miss or scrolling through some of the older posts. Perhaps the ones mocking some of her failed projects, or the embarrassing photo's of their sleepover.
"You holdin' up there, Rarity?" a Southern voice drawled from behind.
"Somewhat, Applejack." Rarity said, turning to face her friend. "I haven't had any direct comments on my fashion sense today, but with all the glances at phones before the laughter starts they didn't really need to. It has grown beyond tiresome. How have you been fairing?"
Applejack grunted, a frown on her face as she matched Rarity's pace. "I got oinked at three times just gettin' to my locker. Ya'd think they'd have found something new to laugh at by now."
"Tempting as that might be, I really do not think we would wish for another to suffer Anon-a-Miss's ungentle care." Rarity scolded lightly.
"So says one of the gossip queens of CHS?" Applejack countered with a raised eyebrow.
Rarity scoffed in reply, resting a fist on her hip. "There is a line between gossip and slander, Applejack. I do take care not to cross it."
"...You're right" Applejack sighed. "Sorry 'bout that" she apologized, lightly tipping her hat.
Rarity accepted the apology with a smile and a shake of her head. "No apologies needed Applejack. We are all rather on the edge lately, this whole situation is hitting a bit too close to home for all of us."
Applejack snorted. "I'll say, it's like Twilight was never here and we're back to where we were before the Fall Formal."
"Yes" Rarity agreed icily. "Sunset has even gone back to pretending to be the innocent little princess, just as she did in those years before the last."
Applejack opened her mouth to add her own retort, but then something caught her eye. "Say, ain't that Flash Sentry talkin' to Vice-Principal Luna?"
Rarity leaned forward to peek past the farmgirl. Sure enough, there in front of Principal Celestia's office was Flash Sentry, a concerned look on his face as he spoke to the Vice-Principal, whose eyes had turned rather stern as she listened with her arms crossed. "Why, yes it is. What ever would the spotless record holder of CHS have to discuss with the Vice-Principal?"
"Maybe Sunset got to him with somethin' serious this time and he's lookin' to see what can be done about her?"
Rarity shuddered. "Oh dear, I hope not. Considering those two had been dating for quite some time I dread to think what kind of dirt she has on him. That little 'I spotted Flash at the bar' was hardly the most mind boggling, but if the gloves are off..."
As they passed the office, Applejack tossed a concerned look over her shoulder. "You think he'll be okay?"
"He's a big boy, darling. He can handle himself." The words were confident, but Rarity paused for a moment before adding "of course, it wouldn't hurt to keep a spot at our table free. Just in case."
Applejack grinned "well ain't you a generous soul."
Rarity tossed her hair with a smile and half lidded eyes. "I do try my best."
"-and that's when she finally went through the portal." Flash finished. "I decided I'd let you know first thing in the morning and headed home afterwards."
Vice-Principal Luna nodded, her eyes still stern as she stared at the young student. "And it took you convincing her that this was for the best before she finally considered going through the portal?"
Flash shuffled on his feet "well, not too much convincing, but-"
"Flash Sentry" Luna interrupted "your chivalry does you credit, but has anyone ever told you you are a terrible liar?" As Flash dipped his head in shame, Luna sighed. "Twisting the truth is not going to help here, Flash Sentry. Not if we want to stop this."
"I'm sorry Vice-Principal. All I wanted to do was give her a little pep-talk, but she was devastated when I found her there. I just didn't want to take the risk of her doing anything... rash."
Luna nodded. "We'll take that into consideration. Did she tell you of a way to reach her?"
Flash brightened up. "Yeah, she said something about a book in her locker? It's what she uses to get into contact with Twilight."
"I see. Thank you for informing us Flash Sentry, we'll take it from here." As if waiting on a cue, he school bell rang and students began to drown the hallway. "You'd better run along to class now" Luna noted.
"Right. Uhm, I'll be going then!" Flash finished, before turning and dashing down the hallway.
Luna sighed as she watched the blue haired boy disappear in the crowd before she backed into the office and closed the door behind her. "So, what do you think?"
Seated behind her desk, Principal Celestia folded her hands. "I think that this puts the final nail into the coffin of the ridiculous idea that Sunset Shimmer is responsible for all of this."
"This would not be the first time for Sunset Shimmer to be an apparent 'victim' to throw off suspicion." Luna countered.
"Is that what you really think, Luna?" Celestia said, tilting her head "that this is just one more trick of Sunset Shimmer? That everything we've seen of her over the past months was just deception? That she fled to another world as part of a scheme?"
Luna shook her head. "Alright, alright, calm down. No need to go all "High Principal" on me." Luna walked over to Celestia's desk and pulled up another chair, leaning on the other end of the desk and folding her hands under her chin. "I'm not saying this out of malice toward Sunset Shimmer. Like you, I believe she really is trying to change. But you have to remember: We teachers have seen a very different Sunset Shimmer over the years than our students have. She was always very careful to avoid involving the teachers in her tricks."
Celestia frowned. "I know that many things happened under our nose that we should have acted on, but that doesn't mean-"
"Sister, you have no idea what has been happening here since the years Sunset Shimmer has been among us" Luna interrupted. "The few accusations we had heard and dismissed over the years are only the tip of the iceberg. I have been talking to the students, and now that they have gathered some courage after seeing Sunset fall I have heard stories that chill me to the bone. Sunset Shimmer wasn't just a top bully in our school, she ruled this school. Right under our noses."
Celestia leaned back in her chair and reached up to rub her forehead with the palm of her hand. "What are you trying to say, Luna?"
"I'm trying to say that our students are carrying grudges that go back years. Grudges that aren't just washed away with a few nice words and a magical rainbow explosion. If we want to prove Sunset is innocent, we can't just up and say 'we know she's innocent' and expect that to be the end of it. The students have had years of us telling them that, and we were wrong every single time back then. If we want to end this, we will need clear, undeniable proof."
Celestia let out a long sigh and brought her other hand to her forehead, covering her face with both hands. When she spoke, her voice was tinged with sadness. "I hoped so much we could all just move forward after the Fall Formal, and especially the Battle of the Bands. I thought Sunset proved to the entire school how much she changed and that this school was welcoming her."
"It just goes to show how deep the scars run" Luna said sadly. But then her eyes hardened. "But this isn't over yet. If we play our cards right, we can still turn this around and use this to poke at the scars so they can heal properly."
Seconds of silence passed, but when Celestia lowered her hands her eyes shared Luna's determination. "You're right. Sunset left us her journal, which means she hasn't given up on us, and I do not plan to give up on her that easily. Luna, go to Sunset's locker and get that journal Flash Sentry talked about. I want it safe in either your office or mine."
"Do you think someone is planning to try vandalizing Sunsets stuff?" Luna asked warily.
"No, but I don't want to take any risks. That book is the only contact with Sunset we have." Celestia smiled. "Plus, we have to let her know what she missed this week somehow, don't we? Simply letting her grades slip wouldn't be proper for us teachers."
Luna's smile mirrored her sister's. "I will get the journal and let Princess Twilight know she and Sunset can use it to contact us. Hopefully letting Sunset know we are on her side will help calm her down. What will you do?"
"I'm going to call for a faculty meeting" Celestia said. "We are no longer going to take half measures on this 'Anon-a-Miss' nonsense." Her eyes hardened again, seemingly at nothing in particular, but Luna knew her sister well enough that she was reflecting on the past, and she did not like what she was seeing. "If what you just told me is true, Sunset has ruled our school for years, and now her ghost seems to be taking up the reigns. I think it's high time we take our school back."
As morning class ended, the lunch room quickly filled up with hungry students and the Rainbooms gathered at their usual table.
"What happened here?" Rainbow Dash asked as she wiped the remains of a sandwich from the table and chair it was spread over.
"An argument broke out between the boys of the computer club and the film club. Food went flying." Pinkie Pie answered dejectedly. "What a waste" she murmured. The normally bright and energy-filled girl was sitting slumped in her seat, a cheek resting on her hand as she poked at her food with dull eyes that completely lacked her usual boundless sparkle.
"Is everything alright, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked, more softly than usual.
"Don't tell me all the teasing got to you too?" Rarity asked.
A ghost of a smile made its way on Pinkie Pie's face. "No, people didn't find me dancing in funny outfits that strange, and I'm used to people laughing at me." The smile disappeared as Pinkie pushed away her plate and propped her other arm on the table as well, leaning on both of them. "I just don't like the way people are laughing. I mean, when something silly happens to someone, you can both laugh at it. It's fun. But this laughing? It's laughing at someone, not with someone. There's nothing fun about it."
"But that's not all that's bothering you, is it?" Rarity pushed.
Pinkie seemed to deflate even worse at Rarity's pushing, lowering her eyes to stare at the table. "...No" she agreed quietly.
"Is it about Sunset?"
Pinkie looked back up, meeting Rarity's eyes. "I just don't understand. We were friends, weren't we? We had fun! We laughed together! We partied together! How did we go from that to... this?"
"Good question" a new voice spoke up. "A better question would be 'do you really believe Sunset Shimmer is Anon-a-Miss?'"
"Flash!" Applejack called out to the blue haired guitarist as she turned to face him. "Good seein' you, we saw you at the Principal's office. Everythin' alright?"
"Yes, do take a seat darling." Rarity pitched in, waving her hand towards an empty spot at the table. "We kept a spot for you in case you wanted to talk about it"
As Flash pulled up a chair, Pinkie Pie turned to him, a small light returning to her eyes. "Whadaya mean, Flash?"
Flash blinked. "Huh?"
"The whole" Pinkie jumped up and shoved her hands in her skirt's pockets, mimicking Flash's pose "A better question would be 'do you really believe Sunset Shimmer is Anon-a-Miss?'" she mimicked, then jumped back on her seat, dropping her head back on her hands as if nothing happened. "That thing."
"I meant just that. You girls looked like you'd grown so close together. You partied, you hung out, hell you even saved the whole damned school together. How did you go from that to believing she is Anon-a-Miss?"
"Uhh, because she posted our secrets?" Rainbow Dash retorted.
"And how do you know it was her?" Flash shot back.
Applejack sighed. "Sugarcube, it's not as if we want to believe it's Sunset. Dangit I thought we'd grown closer than the seeds of an apple core. But the day after Sunset learned of that nickname that's now ghostin' around these hallways, the account appeared and posted it for the school to see. That weren't exactly a nickname the family shares with just about anyone."
"And those embarrassing pictures and movies of us at the next slumber party that were uploaded later that week came from Sunset's very own phone. Without any of the photos of Sunset herself." Rarity added.
"Someone could have stolen her phone, though" Flash pointed out.
Rainbow Dash grunted. "Yeah, but why? They'd have to know those pictures were on that phone in the first place, and the only ones who knew that outside of us was Sunset."
"Plus we did ask if Sunset had lost her phone lately, because we didn't want to believe it either" Pinkie piped up. "But Sunset told us she never lost her phone, so who else could have done so?"
Flash frowned, and the girls felt a spark of sympathy. Even though they didn't want to admit it themselves, it was pretty damning evidence. Circumstantial maybe, but feelings weren't exactly a court case.
"But why on earth would Sunset do this? Why would she abandon the very friendships she built just to mess with you girls?" the young student pressed.
Silence reigned at the table as his answer. If Flash was hoping he was getting through to them, the atmosphere at the table was trying hard to prove him wrong. It had gotten even more frosty, if anything.
"Because she's done so before" came the answer.
Even as quiet as the voice was and as noisy as the cafeteria was, it was like a pin dropped in a silent room, and the whole table turned to the source of the voice. Fluttershy's eyes were caught between both a sad tearing up and a glare. "I'm not sure if you remember Flash, but Sunset did that friendship documentary a few years back. She got very close to all of us, learned everything there was to know about us and our friendships and then used that to tear us all apart."
Rarity grimaced at the memory, but straightened her face as she turned to Flash. "You should know yourself how she was, Flash Sentry. She used you even worse than she did us. She pretended to actually love you just to raise her own status, abusing even your own feelings for her, just as a stepping stone for her own popularity."
That got a much sharper reaction from the blue haired guitarist, and the look of hurt actually caused a stab of guilt to lance through Rarity's chest. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder as she continued. "We have all been tricked by Sunset before, and while I would love to believe she is innocent, the evidence and her past do not speak in her favour. She has pretended to be innocent before, and it cost us dearly. Once bitten twice shy and such, and we have already been bitten twice now. I think we would rather cut contact altogether than face yet another betrayal."
Flash sighed. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about that for a while."
The girls looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean 'we don't have to worry about that for a while?'" Rainbow Dash asked.
Flash levelled his gaze with Applejack and Rarity. "You two remember that talk I had with Vice-Principal Luna in front of Principal Celestia's office?" At a nod from the two, he continued. "That was me explaining to them that Sunset has gone home for the time being."
"Huh. That explains why I didn't see her at science class today" Rainbow Dash said.
"Is she alright?" Fluttershy asked.
"Does it matter?" Flash answered sharply, but as Fluttershy winced and tried to hide behind her pink hair, he sighed and scratched his head. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. But you did just say you wanted to cut off contact with her."
"We don't want to be involved with whatever she's planning" Rainbow Dash shot back as she crossed her arms. "That doesn't mean we want anything to happen to her. So what's up? She got sick?"
"She's fine, physically" Flash answered "but she's been under a lot of stress since this whole anon-a-mess started."
A snort came from Pinkie's corner of the table and the group turned to see a small smile back on the pink-haired girl, which in turn made all the others at the table perk up a little as well.
"Anyway" Flash continued "last evening I wanted to talk to her, just to let her know she has someone on her side."
"Wait wait wait" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "You're on her side? You? The guy who broke up with Sunset Shimmer and lived?"
Flash blinked. "Wait, you think I broke up with Sunset?"
"That is what the running story in the school is, darling" Rarity confirmed. "Why, before Twilight arrived many here thought you would be the one to pick up the torch against Sunset."
Flash sighed, reaching up with a hand to slowly rub his face. "Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I wasn't the one to break up with Sunset. She broke up with me. I mean I wish I had the kind of guts to do that, but she had me pinned so badly I might as well have worn a collar. I know I got a pretty good reputation here, but even I have secrets that would make me want to dig the deepest hole I can and never get out."
"So why did Sunset break up with you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Not for some sort of maniacal purpose" Flash answered "I was just too much work at that point. She'd gotten more popular by hanging out with me, but there was nothing more to gain from dating me. We were starting to become old news, and the Sunset back then didn't care for putting effort in things that didn't help her."
"So she dated you until you had no use, an' then she dumped you like a half-eaten apple core when you weren't." Applejack summarized, crossing her arms and letting her left leg rest on her right. "So how's that tie in to you bein' on Sunset's side now?"
Flash sighed. "I'd like to think that I know her. I mean I've dated her for the better part of a year before she broke up, and at the end of it she started sharing things with me. It started with me seeing the real Sunset, the one you girls didn't get to see until last year when she went full tyrant mode. Then she started talking about her motivations, her plans. I think she wanted to recruit me, or something. Convince me to help her. It didn't take, and when she broke up with me she made sure I knew what kind of Sword of Damocles she had dangling over my head should I think about moving against her."
"And so you didn't" Rarity said.
"And so I didn't" Flash sighed. "It wasn't until Twilight that I worked up that kind of courage. But anyway, I know the kind of tricks the old Sunset used to play. If this really was her, she would have made sure I would never even think of looking to Twilight for help. Instead, she ran straight to Twilight."
"Hold on there!" Applejack interrupted. "You're saying Sunset ran off to Equestria?"
Flash blinked "Uh, yes? I did say she went home, didn't I?"
"We figured you meant she went back to her apartment! Why in tarnation would she go back to Equestria?"
"Because she truly started believing she had nothing left here! All she got in this place was glares, accusations and dismissal. If I hadn't damn near shoved her through that portal, who knows what would have happened!"
Rainbow Dash slammed her palm on the table. "You could have sent her to us! If we'd know things were this bad we could have- I don't know, done something!"
"She went to you before, remember? You sent her away."
A silence settled over the table as everyone let Flash's words sink in. Applejack drummed a beat on the table with her fingers, Dash one on the floor with her foot. Pinkie Pie's smile had vanished again and Fluttershy was now completely hidden behind her hair.
It was Rarity who first broke the silence with gentle cough. "Forgive me for playing devil's advocate, but should Sunset's return to Equestria not be more concerning? The last time Sunset went to Equestria she did so to steal Twilight's crown."
Flash shook his head. "Yeah, but I doubt that's the case now."
"How so?"
"I haven't talked with Sunset much after we broke up. Even after the Fall Formal talking with her was just awkward. But I did talk to her about Equestria once or twice when asking about Twilight."
Rarity almost reared back in shock. "You asked your ex about your current crush? Flash Sentry!"
"I know! I know!" Flash said, waving his arms in front of him as if it could ward of the fashionista's glare. "I don't exactly have a lot of options when it comes to asking about Twilight, okay? The point is, I talked to her about Equestria, and she was always nervous when I asked about the idea of going back. "
"Why would she be nervous about her own home?" Fluttershy asked.
"She never told me. Maybe it has to do wit the whole 'trying to invade with a zombie army', but that's just guessing. Whatever it is, it has her scared."
"But now she feels abandoned enough here to risk whatever she's afraid off there." Pinkie's voice started to crack as she finished her last words.
"Yeah" Flash sighed, before getting up from his seat and pocketing his hands. "Well, that's what I came here to say. I'm not going to claim you guys don't have good reason to suspect Sunset, but from where I'm standing there is no way she would have done this, then ran back to either the one girl that still cares for and would be royally pissed at her for doing this, or the thing that's made her too afraid to return earlier. Goodbye girls."
As Flash walked off, the Rainbooms were left with their thoughts. All of them had already felt uncertainty gnaw at them over the supposed guilt of Sunset, but Flash's story had blown those uncertainties wide open. Now the girls had to face the distinct possibility that they had led old grudges blind them to the truth.
And it may have cost them a friend.
Meanwhile, a few tables down the cafeteria, a trio of kids huddled close to one another.
"Did you hear that?" Apple Bloom whispered. "Sunset's gone!"
"That's good, isn't it?" Scootaloo whispered back. "I mean, wasn't that the entire reason we started this in the first place?"
"Yes, but, did we really have to take it this far?" came Sweetie Belle's nervous whisper.
Scootaloo bit her lip. "Maybe not, but it worked, right? Sunset's back in Equ-whatsit place and can't steal our sisters from us anymore."
"Yeah..." Apple Bloom replied, but her heart wasn't really in the answer.
"So, what do we do with Anon-a-Miss?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well, mission accomplished. We really don't need it anymore." Apple Bloom replied.
"And posting now would just alert our sisters that Sunset had nothing to do with it" Scootaloo added.
The girls looked at each other, silently communication through their bond as childhood friends.
"Freezer?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Freezer" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded.
Anon-a-Miss would take an early holiday.
so the truth will be revealed?
8520770
Well not that easily, but the teachers aren't just going to twiddle their thumbs either.
Welp. I don't like the idea of the CMC's "Freezer" plan.
Thank you for this, people are always so quick to ignore facts and just demonize everyone when doing Anon-a-miss. This story should be a little complex but everyone always takes the black and white approach.
8520777
but ti willbe revealed, and will the studetns who sent the stuff to be posted be punished as well. sure that take the sail out fo thier little amusement and fun they had with the site.
We don’t know how long Sunset ruled the school for. Heck, it’s implied to be roughly a year with the pictures in My Past Is Not Today (she didn’t get maniacal until after her first win and there’s the Spring Fling and Fall Formal). Plus, she didn’t make the school hell for others, if you stayed out of her way, you were fine. Oh, and EqG 1 was Junior year latest, unless they graduated between FG and LoE. One bully that doesn’t target anyone in particular isn’t the end of the world, even by high school drama standards.
As for in the comic, they didn’t attempt to find another answer. They never looked for an answer to why she would’ve done it either. They just spent the days it took over saying they didn’t want to believe it was her and not knowing why she would do it to immediately saying it was it was certainly her. Heck, they know it’s possible for someone else to do it as Sunset did it to them before. They didn’t even give her a real chance to talk when accusing her, and didn’t seem to care in the slightest that she was scared to walk around the school. She had to practically beg them (and bring up Twilight) to get them to even start listening, after days, and after Sunset already figured out who did it. Then to top it off, they don’t even apologize to her or even particularly care it was the CMC. Frankly, I don’t buy it in the slightest that they didn’t want to believe it was her as they made no attempt to actually talk to her, find out what she would gain, see what she was going through, or even look for another potential culprit. They just threw her out and were complaining about the teasing. It’s made even worse when if they just talked to each other before the first movie, they’re friendship would’ve been fixed, yet they made the same mistake again.
Anyways, definitely a nice chapter, good to see what happened at the school. I’m interested in seeing what will happen when Sunset gets her flame back.
Wow, this was a really good deeper exploration of the Anon-a-miss storyline. Well done so far!
The only part that bothered me was this line:
On a first reading it seemed like Celestia herself was sure that Sunset was guilty. This made the next few lines confusing until I realized that she was saying this in a sad tone of voice, as if she was despairing about the state of things. Without actually hearing her say the line it was hard to tell at first.
8520855
I mean it's all just speculation but to me it always seemed implied that Sunset controlled the school through blackmail and manipulation. At the very least everyone was afraid of her so clearly she had done things that made her worth fearing. She'd have to have had at least a year to do all kinds of damage as she seized control of the school.
As for the comic... it sucked. They did a complicated story idea but did not have enough pages to do it properly. I believe it should only be used as a template rather than taking it literally like other writers have. If you are gonna adapt a bad story then you should try to make it better.
8520855
I've always interpreted those first two pictures as Sunset playing the innocent princess, stabbing people in the back all quiet like and building up her powerbase before unleashing it in her final year. One does not generate an aura of "stay out of my way or get crushed under my heel" without being scary enough. When Sunset walked down the hallway in EQG, just that was enough to send people ducking into lockers. That's not a gentle 'oh don't worry about her, just give her some space' fear, that's plain 'she's the terror of the school' fear.
The girls have two very good reasons to believe it's Sunset though: The nickname and the photo's. People always gloss these over, but nicknames known only to family and friends and photo's taken on a personal smartphone in a private situation don't just magically float to an internet site. Someone has to posts those. Someone who knows about them. And while the nickname could have been blabbed by other members of the family, the photo's where Sunset's and Sunset's alone. As far as the girls were aware, the only people who even knew those photo's existed where themselves.
And Sunset will definitely get her flame back. Oh yes.
Glad to see an anon-a-miss story where the teachers arent going to be COMPLETELY useless! Lets hope Sunset is doing well in equestria with Twilight, shes the only true friend to Sunset.
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Hmyeah, I wasn't really sure about that line either. I'll tweak it a bit.
8520801
You and me both, I hope someone like Button Mash or one of the other teens might have eased dropped on them, then they could have told the other girls or Celestia and Luna what they heard, heck they could even use their phones to record the CMC's conversation about putting Anon-a-miss on holiday.
8520893
The nickname isn’t really any kind of proof as Apple Bloom and Granny Smith both could’ve easily spread it (whether someone overheard Apple Bloom telling her friends or Granny Smith told Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara overhear), or one of the mane 5 spread it when they weren’t friends and forgot about it. The photos are much harder to disprove, but they didn’t even try. They know Sunset’s faked texts and emails in the past, so they know it’s possible for it to not have been her, but they don’t care. They don’t ask how she did it in the past, they just left her sobbing on the floor acting like they were the victims and never apologizing. Sure there’s evidence against her, but they don’t bother to give her the benefit of the doubt or even make up a motive. It’s the way they dump her and don’t even consider it might not be her that kills it for me. Heck, they don’t even try to stop the account, just let it keep leaking secrets and harming the school.
8520890
I’ve looked for what blackmail she did to use in a fic, but she never actually blackmailed anyone (and blackmail has appeared in FiM, so it’s not a rating thing). Thinking about it, she seems way too direct to use blackmail, as she always went with straight up sabotage, like when she broke the friendships or every tactic she used against Twilight. Heck, if she had blackmail, I’d expect people to still fear her after the Fall Formal, but everyone makes it clear that they don’t.
I think Flash wouldn't be this sloppy on talking in the middle of the cafeteria on Sunset being back in Equestria when he was gonna be looking into who Anon-A-Miss is. I think it was planned. If the Anon-A-Miss account goes silent almost immediately after letting the Humane 5 know Sunset is gone that means whoever it is was close enough to the 6 of them to hear the conversation, but if it takes a while or doesn't stop at all that means it was someone not within earshot. Willing to bet Flash thought this through and made note of everyone at tables within a certain distance of theirs and had this conversation out in the open and see what would happen.
The kids are gonna regret their choices IF they decide to stuff Sunset in a freezer.
YEAH!
loved this chapter cant wait to see what happens next :D
Oh hey someone recognized how stacked the evidence against Sunset was.
This doesn't usually happen in Anon-A-Miss stories.
You have my interest.
Hope the teachers manages to do something so the three girls will not be able to escape from this so easilu
Really, Flash miss a great chance to prove that Sunset innocent. Just keep to himself that she leave to Equestria and when CMC again post something drop the bomb.
Wow! An Anon-A-Miss story where the characters point out that they have good reason to hate and distrust Sunset! And don't act like a rainbow of sparkles magically washed away years of her controlling the school with an iron fist! It's like people in the school actually have feelings and common sense!
I mean, not a lot of common sense. Otherwise they'd realize that the girl who has run the school while successfully hiding her behavior from the faculty for so long would hardly do something that could so easily be attributed to her... But at least there's a little common sense!
And with the CMC closing up shop, unless they posted something that morning, it's going to be kinda hard to track them down...
Sit down at my table, put your mind at ease
If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please.
Eee~! Can't wait for more! :D
8521455
Except not only was it experly hidden from the faculty it was also expertly hidden from many of her victims. Remember how a bunch of fake texts were all that was needed to break the 5 of them apart and none of them were the wiser it was Sunset?
8521669
But when it was revealed it also showed that she was someone who would pretend to be friendly only to stab you in the back.
My obviously best guess is Sunset's afraid to face Princess Celestia again after what she did back in the MLP Annual 2013 comic.
I think it was more the way they did it than them not believing her. They were cruel about it, to the point of driving her to tears in the middle of the hallway. And the fact they don't really apologize about it at the end led to a backlash against the way they were portrayed. I think the premise was welcomed by the community but the execution was so bad that people over corrected out of their dislike of wasted potential and warping the main 6 to fit a narrative. Kinda like the trixie episode way back in season 1, when the community liked the idea but felt the punishment was unwarranted and Trixie was overly punished for a little bragging and abrasiveness.
8521843
I think it's more that people are protective of characters they like, and that tends to colour their perspective of the events. You mentioned Trixie for example, and how many feel her punishment was unwarranted. But Trixie was never punished in Boast Busters. Snips and Snails got punished, but they were the ones who dragged the Ursa Minor to Ponyville so that makes sense. Trixie did not. Her cart was destroyed, yes, but that was done by the Ursa Minor, which was called there partially because Trixie's own bragging convinced a couple of kids to do a stupid thing. Ponyville itself had nothing to do with that and showed no intent to punish Trixie for anything before she ran off. Heck,Twilight even stopped Rainbow Dash from going after her.
Same thing here. While it's undeniable that the comic screwed up its presentation -after all, that's one of the things I'm trying to do better-, I believe a lot of people have a tendency to ignore both the visible cues of why people suspect Sunset so easily and her background. I've read many fics where the evidence, which is quite incriminating, gets dismissed out of hand and the efforts of the five girls to give Sunset a chance, such as not believing Sunset was anon-a-miss at all during the initial piggly wiggly run or asking Sunset about her phone before accusing her are often ignored. Or that the girls did end up listening to Sunset after they had a chance to cool down at the end of the comic.
I'm not saying the five girls were completely in the right. They do jump to conclusions. But I feel many people in their rush to defend Sunset tend to ignore a lot of the circumstances that, while not justifying it, at the very least explain why those conclusions were drawn.
8521928
And you’re missing a lot of the issues. Let’s look at Boast Busters. Trixie had her cart, which is also her home, destroyed and her career ruined because of the actions of two fanboys. The actions which the show punished her for were boasting while putting on a show. A show that Ponyville in general enjoyed except for the biggest braggart in the town (Rainbow Dash), the one who gambled her family’s livelihood multiple times because of her pride and stubbornness (Applejack), and Rarity. They all tried to show Trixie up as well. The issue is that Trixie didn’t do anything particularly bad or even unique yet had her home and career destroyed for the actions of two foals who Spike goaded. Rainbow and Applejack are never called out for their hypocritical behavior and Rarity came out on top when lying about herself in Sweet and Elite. It was a pure double standard and the only time a character suffered such consequences (besides premiers and finales), for the crime of annoying the main characters (they could’ve easily just not watched the show and let everyone else enjoy it). Yes, none of the characters directly punished her, but she still had her life ruined for a fair bit of time because of it.
Here’s the thing about Anon-A-Miss, it happened after Rainbow Rocks. In the movie, we constantly see Sunset trying to help others and be a better person while the mane 6 sidelined her and passively insulted her. When she jumped in to stop them from revealing their magic, they yelled at her when Rainbow was the one screwing up in the first place and after the rest of the School was insulting her. Then, all of them look away after the jealous rage bit, none of them willing to defend Sunset. Come the end of the movie, all of them have been tearing themselves apart and Sunset has to save the friendship. They finally started really accepting her after that. Come to the start of the comic, Sunset is melancholy (at best) since she’s alone for the holidays yet again. She’s having a lot of fun at the sleepovers, so why would she do it?
Yes, the photos were strong evidence. So what? They have no proof they weren’t responsible for what broke up their friendships in EqG 1. It came from their phones and emails after all, they could all just be lying to get back together. In the hallway seen, they were already certain it was her. Asking if she lost her phone was just a formality, as they were already glaring at her from the start. They wouldn’t listen to her when she was sobbing on the floor or at all actually. They just assumed the worst like they did in the first movie. When Sunset goes to talk to them later, they were still yelling her to get out until they she basically begged for the second time, days later. Then they top it off by instantly forgiving their sisters and no apology to Sunset. Heck, the kicker is that Applejack and Rarity were pricks to their sisters earlier in the comic as well.
Them not instantly dropping Sunset on the first secret means next to nothing (especially since Sunset offered to help any way she could) when they dropped her the very next one. Heck, it just showed how they were willing to flip on a dime.
So to sum up, they had no motive, didn’t bother to listen to Sunset, repeated their mistake from the first movie, still weren’t willing to listen to Sunset until she cracked the case, didn’t try to find any other explanation, didn’t try to stop Anon-A-Miss in any way, and left her on the floor sobbing. The comic showed that even after Rainbow Rocks, they still don’t trust Sunset or consider her enough of a friend to give her the benefit of the doubt. Heck, they don’t seem to care about the secrets or betrayal when it came from the CMC, the pain they caused Sunset, or the damage they did to the school. They only cared when they thought it was Sunset.
8521132 Given that she's currently at Twilight's place in Equestria, I think that that's gonna be kinda hard for them to do.
8521687
And she would do it in a way IMPOSSIBLE to trace back to her. This is is sloppier than the sloppy seconds of a tentacle monster.
8522592
Oh definitely, I never said the girls were completely justified in their logic leap, just that there was a reason for them. They did screw up, just not without reason.
I love that you are giving realistic motivations and beliefs to the human 5 and the rest of the students.
I like the story and the direction I see it heading but the grammar could use a bit more polishing.
8523521
Anything in particular? English may not be my first language, but I am trying to polish my skill in it.
8523614
There are sometimes missing commas around dialog; there are consistency issues as well. Like a period should be replaced with a comma when there is a dialog tag (tag being "said", "answered", "whispered", and other similar words describing how the person said the dialog). Example:
The period after "flying" should be a comma since Pinkie is answering someone. There needs to be punctuation after "waste". From the tone of the sentence I would say it should be a comma; the other choice being an exclamation point but that doesn't fit at all with the tone.
Because of this, sometimes run-on sentences are created, like this one:
A comma after "whole" and a period after "pose" would break it up.
Titles have not been capitalized when referring to Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna.
There are other little things that would fall under "typos" like "allright" and not "alright". Another example I saw is "send" instead of "sent", though these are more nuances of the language and a little harder to pick up.
I hope I didn't overload you with information, I tried to pick out the large things with a few small specifics. Next time I can also point out everything I see and send it through a PM to you.
8523828
Not at all! That's all very helpful and I'll definitely be on the lookout for things like that in the future.
One of the main issues with the comic is that if Sunset was back to her old ways this wouldn't be how she do it.Anon a miss is practically screaming that she is Sunset. Something Sunset wouldn't ever due.
Then there is the timing of the comic, after Rainbow Rocks hurts it. It would be better before not after.
Hopefully Twilight would tell them aboutgabby gums.
These are shy I hate the comics. Major plot holes.
8524206
I actually think after Rainbow Rocks is the best time to have the comic. The main 6 were not particular good friends to Sunset, or even each other, and it really shows. They seem better in Friendship Games, so between then there needed to be something that spurred their growth.
8524206
We never saw how she operated in her early bullying days.
What we did see showed her not even trying to hide how malice outside of the faculty. And even then she was hardly covering her tracks.
8524953
nope ,more beleivable that she revert before RR then after.
8525178
but clearly enough that she could never be pinned. just enough to suspect it
8521928
I think that's part of it, but I don't think it's primarily that. The two problems that really stand out are timing (the whole thing would make a lot more sense pre-Rainbow Rocks, but the story explicitly post-Rainbow Rocks) and exactly how they handled the sliming of Sunset.
The CMC were way too unsubtle. Realistically everyone should have known Sunset was being framed from the start and if they didn't notice it, Applebloom pointing out the fact that the Anon-a-Miss page is clearly meant to evoke Sunset Shimmer should have torpedoed her own plan. That's a relatively minor problem, though.
The comic's plot could still have been made to work if it had had evidence mounting against Sunset before the five turned on her. Instead the first and last bit of evidence was that her phone was used to do something bad.
With random characters that might work. The human five, however, have been primed to see that evidence as inconclusive at most.
Sunset's phone did something bad, she hasn't noticed anyone else using it. It should immediately make four of them think about the last time they lost a friend over a single phone incident, and make Rarity think about the time she did over multiple incidents that all went unnoticed by the alleged guilty party.
It should also have them thinking about how Sunset tends to be a bit more subtle. When she broke them up they were all convinced she had nothing to do with it.
I think it would work well as the second piece in an escalation of evidence (they dismiss it at first, but when more evidence come they rethink, maybe even consider that Sunset was trying to misdirect) but not as smoking gun.
Then there's how they responded.
It's one thing to dump a friend, it's another to publicly humiliate her (and drive her to tears.) The public angle gets even worse when it hits you that only the very stupid would suspect Sunset was Anon-a-Miss before the human five dumped her, but afterward the whole school "knew" there was proof Sunset was guilty and the source was pretty unimpeachable since the five are the ones who normally would be the first to defend Sunset and the last to accept her guilt.
The reasoning is an informal logical fallacy, but it's pretty common. If the person/people least likely to be convinced has/have been convinced, the thinking goes, then it's probably true.
The five didn't know how far Anon-a-Miss would go, but they did know that they were letting everyone know (at the speed of gossip) that, according to them, Sunset Shimmer's reformation was a lie and she was still (and had always been) the same horrible person she once was.
They chummed the waters and threw her in. Even with compelling proof, that would still be an incredibly cruel thing to do.
All of which is pretty out of character. Sunset sort of gets to be the in-character character by default. Since she's entirely reacting with no chance to initiate, she's never given much of a chance to do anything out of character. The other five are all out character in ways that are pretty damaging.
Anyway, I may have lost my point somewhere in there. I think that if the comic had been well crafted you'd see fewer people calling it out because I think the response is over more than just the targeting of a character people like. Some would probably be mad at anything where Sunset suffers, but a lot more people will get mad when a character they like suffers unnecessarily.
The comic is full of things where the plot should have short circuited and the anti-Sunset train should have shut down, but those are conveniently avoided by having characters be far enough out of character to prevent the short.
That, and there's the ending. The human five never apologize for anything. The way the five treat the CMC vs. Sunset is . . . honestly it's a problem of inconsistent OOC characterization. The in-character characters who were so quick to forgive the CMC wouldn't have done what they did earlier in the comic. The OOC characters from earlier in the comic wouldn't have forgiven the CMC unless the difference between the CMC and Sunset were that the relationships with the CMC were real and the one with Sunset was a lie.
Which is, at least, an interesting flip of the comic on its head. The reason they're all so willing to assume Sunset is lying when she acts like their friend is because they're lying when they act like Sunset's friend. But that's just another way that the comic makes them all look terrible.
8530005
The problem, aside from evidence to the opposite existing (yes, Sunset can be subtle, but was also be obvious when the situation suited her. Yes, phones can be swiped to send stuff, and Sunset is the one with the reputation of doing so. Yes, Sunset is crying, but she's pulled fake tear and pretend innocence before) is that that all of these assume that the people involved are thinking logically and rationally, without any bias.
But these are hormonal teenagers with a history of jumping to conclusion who are extremely emotionally upset after dealing with a close friend being bullied for several days and all of whom have lots of pent up lingering hard feelings for the girl who put them through at least three very uncomfortable years. Even in Rainbow Rocks we see that forgiveness doesn't come as easily to the Rainbooms as it does their pony counterparts. There's a hotpot of emotions churning, and the anon-a-miss incident send the whole deal boiling over, and so people screwed up and missed the signs.
There's a reason the teachers are the ones taking the rational course of action in this chapter: They lack a lot of the emotional baggage that is distracting the students.
8530055
First off, I want to make sure that I'm clear that I was and am talking about why people responded the way the did to the comic, not to your story, which I think think is much, much better.
Second:
That's not precisely it. It's more that the way they're being illogical, irrational, and biased doesn't fit their established characters.
Also, some of it is just downright weird.
The confrontation about the post with the pictures from Sunset's phone happened two days after the post went up. Most people flat out ignore that detail. It's written out in plain words right on the page of the comic, but most people edit it out of the version in their head because it's just plain hard to make sense of.
Since Sunset wasn't in any of the pictures she wouldn't be getting picked on over it, but if we're to believe the others are then at least some of them certainly knew about it before two days after the fact, and that's not even considering that the Applebloom already proved the CMC were willing to tell the five about the posts in order for them to see them as soon as possible. (The first post was a mere three hours* old when Applebloom showed it to Applejack.)
The five clearly had time to think about what they were going to do. Even without the knowledge that they had days to think about it, they gathered together as a group with the express purpose of confronting Sunset about it in a crowded hallway. The opening of the comic shows that they aren't normally in the same place, and unlike the post-Sleepover One scene, they didn't all come in together (because then Sunset would be with them, plus this wasn't after a sleepover) so the fact they're all together means we know they thought this out and organized the group confrontation.
They're thinking things through in a level of detail that they generally don't when jumping to conclusions. They're choosing public over . . . well they don't really do private (their secret no-Sunset meeting was simply in the library after school had ended) but they certainly can pull off meetings with smaller audiences.
And the result of their thinking and organizing is one question ("Have you lost your phone recently?") and then condemnation. Sunset doesn't even have time to process what's happened before they publicly denounce her as Anon-a-Miss and refuse to listen to anything more she has to say.
Yes, we know that they jump to conclusions, make stupid decisions, and let strong emotions override their common sense. But they don't do it like that. At least not in any of the animated parts of the franchise.
That's a problem.
When people get irrational it tends to be in line with their character. They fall on old habits or exaggerate certain traits. It can certainly make them do things that they'd never do when thinking rationally, but there's a sort of continuity to it. They generally don't act in ways completely at odds with their past behavior.
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* Some part of me feels the need to point out that, yes, I am aware Applebloom said it was "a couple hours" old. That doesn't change the fact that the comic clearly states it was posted "three hours ago" when Applebloom says it. Plenty of people use "a couple" to mean "a few". Nothing to see here. Perfectly ordinary colloquial English. Move along.
Glad I caught up with this story. Things are getting interesting.
8532306 Indeed they are.
And if you're like me, you can't wait for the next chapter to see what happens next.
8542241
But of course, I've been waiting patiently for the next chapter!
8542290 Yep, me, too!
8530055
Their actions weren’t illogical and irrational in any reasonable way though, they were irrational in the sense that it didn’t make any sense for them to do what they did as it didn’t fit their characters at all. The season 7 pie episode was a great example of irrational behavior. We see the absurd lengths Rainbow goes to so Pinkie wouldn’t feel bad and the lengths Pinkie goes through to catch Rainbow. Pinkie and Rainbow both stay in character and their irrationality fits their character and is logical to the audience. We also see how the situation escalates, there’s no sudden flips.
Compare that to the comic, where everyone is a hive mind. The EqG counterparts aren’t the same as their pony versions, and the public humiliation with no sense of empathy doesn’t fit any of them. Sitting around and moping doesn’t fit most of them. The timeframe of the comic is wonky as heck, but it takes place roughly over a week or two and none of the characters besides Sunset do anything post hallway. They are also never shown investigating or debating or anything really.
Heck, their actions don’t even match their portrayal in the same comic. Early on Applejack is perceptive enough to catch Sunset’s melancholy, and all of them plan to cheer Sunset up. There isn’t a bit of suspicion and they all feel like friends. They were proactive and shown to have learned their lessons from the first two movies. Then, out of nowhere, they completely flip, publicly yell at Sunset while already being certain of her guilt, then sit around and mope for days while not even trying to think of a motive, conveniently forgetting the first two movies. Then they suddenly completely flip again at the end and instantly forgive the CMC and act as though absolutely nothing happened... The comic portrays the mane 5 as willing to suddenly forget everything and unanimously instantly drop and ostracize their friend without making sure everything checks out or giving them a chance (something they’ve already explicitly learned not to do).
Also, where did you get three years from? They were friends freshman year, at least in the beginning according to the yearbook, and EqG1 was junior year latest, so Sunset’s reign of terror was two years max. Rainbow Rocks was them moving past their lingering resentment and truly accepting Sunset, plus them learning to actually pay attention to and not dismiss each other.
There’s a way that the turning could’ve been handled much better as well, have Sweetie log on through Sunset’s phone, then when Sunset pulls out her phone, it’s on the user page. That way they’d have the shock of the moment to justify the behavior and wouldn’t have them premeditatively ambush Sunset with the accusations in public and not seem like complete idiots for not at any point never realizing the exact same thing happened to them before. Oh, and showing them actually doubting their decision and trying to do something about the situation instead of just moping, maybe be willing to talk to Sunset the second time she shows up... I get that there’s not enough space in the comic to show the characters fully discuss everything and fully flesh out the story, but a few small changes would’ve gone a long way to actually making the story and characters make sense. As it currently is, it makes Mare Do Well look like a masterpiece.
apparently so is this fanfic